A Few Tips to Increase Android App Downloads

Posted by Arch on April 12, 2019

It goes without saying that offering a crash-free app is necessary if you want to achieve an impressive number of downloads. Buggy apps take some time to fix. By the time your developers get a handle on the situation, user grievances already get posted. Word travels fast and something like this could really hurt your business.

But unfortunately, a fully functioning app is not enough to guarantee millions of downloads. Here are some marketing and optimization tips that guarantee more downloads.

Partner Up with Influencers

An expert review could go a long way to securing more downloads. Track search engine rankings, organic referrals, or social media mentions to see who’s been talking about your Android app.

Find people with large followings or people who are experts in your field. Work out an arrangement to get them to promote your app. Influencers affect download rates and purchases because they have an easy time convincing people to trust new products.

App Store Optimization

If you want people to download your app, you have to make it easy for them to find it. App Store Optimization, ASO for short, refers to optimizing app rankings. Its importance can’t be overstated.

Rankings basically depend on metadata such as descriptions, ratings, reviews, keywords, etc. However, there is an art and a science to how you should apply certain keywords. Track metrics such as keyword rankings and app store impressions.

Google Keyword Planner and Apple Search Ads are great research tools that you can use for free.

To make your app score higher in the app store, rearrange the app description to fit current trends. Keep in mind that the number of downloads also affects the ranking. However, you have to deal with other aspects before you can directly influence downloads.

Promotions

Promotions aren’t necessarily discounts or sales, and there are many ways to promote your brand or your app on various platforms. Your goal is to raise awareness as well as drive more traffic to the app store.

Sponsored content, online articles, videos, ads, social media posts, tutorials – everything can be used to your advantage as long as you are targeting the right demographic.

Manage Your Social Media Profiles

When you’re trying to promote an app, social media platforms are very important. They provide a way for users to interact with each other and post their insights and experiences from using the app.

You can personally communicate with your users on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Let them know you’ve taken into account all their suggestions and grievances.

But managing social media profiles can get tricky. Being active on more than one platform is great if you want exposure. However, it’s also dangerous, as you could spread yourself too thin. If you want to promote your app and engage with the community, you have to keep coming up with new content.

Rehashing content from one promotion to another or from one platform to another is not ideal. A social media profile with minimal activity doesn’t enlist a lot of trust. Neither does one with too much irrelevant content.

Embrace Reviews

Not everyone takes the time to rate an app, let alone review it in 50 words or less. That being said, it’s a known fact that positive reviews influence app downloads for the better. Asking users to rate and review your app from time to time is a good idea.

Just make sure that you don’t ask in a pushy way. Depending on your niche and the average usage time, you can send automatic notifications every 5-10 sessions.

Make sure that the entire process is smooth and takes seconds for the user to complete. Also, it might be a good idea to set the notification on log-in or on log-out. That way, it won’t interfere with the experience of using the app.

What Should You Focus on?

Most promotion and advertising solutions are based around the same concept: word of mouth.

There’s no better way to increase Android app downloads than getting positive reviews, getting people to make your app the focal point in group discussions, and most importantly – getting influencers to recommend your app as the ultimate solution to their problems.

Paid ads will probably be less impactful than the right blogger praising your app in a random post. That establishes trust for the app. The influencer’s followers can spread the word, link to your app, and link back to the expert post.

Apart from having a stable app at release and a good developer team once it goes live, most of the things you can do to influence the number of downloads are not tech-related.